Counting Lies
by realfriends13
Summary: Zoe Taylor didn't always used to be a tough, punk rock, townie chick. She used to be your typical schoolgirl, navigating her way through the complications, the lies, the woes of teenagehood at Bullworth Academy. But all that changes after her freshman year. Who was Zoe Taylor before her debut in Bully? Read to find out.
1. Welcome Back

Zoe Taylor sucked in a breath as she got off of the bus and stood in front of the gates to Bullworth Academy.

 _No sassing or misbehaving_ , she reminded herself, shutting her eyes, _anything that could be taken as disrespectful better be tucked away tight._

She'd been attending Bullworth for exactly one year; and would now begin her freshman year at the academy. Last year, her concluding year of middle school, the academy had appeared in the newspaper for having had the highest test scores in the state. Having read about it in the Bullworth Times, her father had insisted on spending the bulk of the money he'd earned the past two years from his disability compensation checks on getting Zoe into the academy.

Mr. Taylor proceeded as if it were no big deal, but Zoe saw the impact it made. Those compensation checks were the only thing that kept the two of them alive ever since her grandmother had passed away three years ago; after all, Mr. Taylor couldn't exactly work with a missing leg, and he wouldn't let Zoe get a job either, claiming that he rather she focus on her studies. As for Mrs. Taylor? She was too busy blowing as much money she could get away with on clothing and other stupidities. Zoe didn't like to think about her much.

It was the least she could do to stay out of trouble and avoid her father having to deal with avoidable bills.

She made her way to the Girls' Dorm, grateful that she was able to omit the visit to Dr. Crabblesnitch's office this year. Last year, he persisted on meeting with her, as she was one of very few new students. Zoe never knew that being told to keep her nose clean could be so nerve-racking.

As she entered the dorm, she waved at some of her old friends from last year—Christy Martin and Angie Ng. They stood outside the dorm conversing, each carrying decorated pink duffel bags that were undeniably from a high-end store that Zoe couldn't afford to shop from. Self-conscious, she turned away and did her best to conceal her dad's old military duffel bag with her legs.

"Hello, sweetie!"

Zoe smiled at the acquainted, heartfelt voice of the Bullworth girls' dorm monitor, Mrs. Peabody. She was elder and her face was hawk-like, but Zoe was fond of her, despite the infamous reputation she had amongst the girls for being intrusive. Mrs. Peabody reminded Zoe of her own grandmother.

"Hi, Mrs. Peabody," Zoe replied, giving her a toothy smile. She permitted the woman to give her a hug before asking for her room assignment.

"Oh yes, of course!" Mrs. Peabody countered pleasantly, glancing down at her clipboard.

"Taylor, Taylor, Taylor… Ah, yes! Room seven on the second floor, dear. Do you need any help with your bag?"

"That's okay, Mrs. P," Zoe responded mechanically, shifting the bag from one hand to the other, "I can take care of it."

Thirty steps later, Zoe halted in the doorway to her second floor dorm room. She pushed the door open and found herself looking in on her best friend, Mandy Wiles, unpacking from one of her Vera Bradley duffel bags.

"Mandy!"

"Zo!"

The two girls ran to each other and embraced, squealing and jumping up and down with joy, Zoe's long, light red hair soaring up in the air with Mandy's chocolate colored hair.

"We're like, roomies this year!" Mandy cheered, stepping back from her best friend. "Oh my god, your hair's like, so long!"

"I know!" Zoe retorted, taking a lock of her hair and examining it, "I'm… uh, growing it out!"

That wasn't exactly true. Zoe's hair wasn't _long_ so to say… it was unkempt. Her bangs were getting out of control—she kept having to sweep them to the side—and her hair itself needed a serious trim. She tried not to think about the split ends in the back.

"That's _such_ a good idea, Zo," Mandy replied, letting go of Zoe and going back to her bed to unpack, "anyway, you will _never_ believe who I started dating this summer! He's _so_ totally cute, you'll just die when you find out who!"

Zoe giggled, listening as Mandy dove into a long tale of how one day over the summer she, Christy, Casey Harris and Ted Thompson were going to hang out at the beach, but then Casey flaked because he was grounded and Christy had a stomach bug, so it was just Mandy and Ted, and how the beach thing had turned into a date and how then they'd gone off to the carnival and later the lookout point.

Zoe became a bit entangled in the clutter of a story, but she could tell there was a lot of making out involved. She didn't see much of an interesting side to it, but Mandy seemed animated.

She found herself diverted from Mandy's somewhat superficial story and instead started thinking about the differences between Mandy and Zoe.

Mandy was… girly, shallow, and trendy. There wasn't anything she adored more than attention, and she credited herself as the most popular girl at Bullworth Academy. She _would_ get excited over something as trivial as the sophomore Junior Varsity star quarterback giving her the time of day, and she _would_ go off on a long, enthusiastic story about how exactly it happened, down to the most clichéd details.

Zoe, on the other hand, misrepresented herself. She did her best to act like Mandy—girly, shallow, and trendy—but she knew deep down inside that she wasn't really any of those things. She'd been a tomboy since she could speak, and if her dad was right, she was more down-to-earth than shallow. As for trendy? Well, maybe she'd be trendy if she could afford to be. But the fact was she couldn't, so she wasn't.

It wasn't like Zoe could even really _talk_ to Mandy, either. She couldn't tell her that she'd spent her summer working at the docks, or that the reason she washed her uniform every night _wasn't_ that she was a neat freak and that instead it was because she simply only had one uniform. She couldn't even tell Mandy about the haircut trouble.

Once, Zoe had confided in Mandy that she couldn't accompany Mandy on a ski trip because her dad couldn't afford to send her. Mandy had given the thin response of, "Oh… well, why doesn't he just get some more money?"

"Zoe! Are you listening?!"

"Huh?" Zoe asked, hauled back into reality by Mandy's high-pitched voice.

Mandy stood in front of her, hands on hips whilst drumming her foot. "I was telling you about my slumber party next week?" She went back to her bed, turning to her duffel bag and fancy, preppy clothes whilst shaking her head in dissatisfaction at Zoe's unawareness.

Slumber party? "How are you gonna have a slumber party? We all already live here."

Mandy stopped, turning to look at Zoe in a mixture of impatience and disbelief. She studied her for a moment, as if a bit hesitant in regard to if Zoe had really just spoken.

Zoe noted the stare and bit her lower lip in apprehension. She knew better than to go against Mandy's biddings and notions, especially when she was as eager for them as she was about this slumber party, no matter how dumb Zoe thought it was.

Which, happened to be the case frequently.

"I mean…" Zoe tormented her brain for an excuse, feeling the pressure of Mandy's imposing stare, "h-how are you gonna keep that groady chick Beatrice from nerding it up?"

Mandy stared at her for a beat longer before shrugging a little and turning her back to her things. Zoe let out a sigh of relief.

"That's a good point. I don't know, I guess we'll have to make it _super_ obvious that that loser _isn't_ welcome.

Zoe nodded, quickly setting away her small assortment of clothing. "Yeah. Super obvious. Are we gonna have it in the attic?" she asked, thinking back to the cobweb filled third floor. Rumor had it, a girl's ghost lingered there and could be seen each evening at midnight. Zoe hadn't seen it yet, but maybe she could convince Mandy to move her slumber party upstairs so that she could?

"Are you kidding me?" Mandy asked, laughing a little bit, "It's _totally_ gross up there. No way, we're just gonna have it in the common room, I already talked to Mrs. Peabody about it and everything's all set."

Sighing, Zoe did her best to channel an attitude of interest. "Sweet, I was worried that we'd be stuck with those icky spider webs and stuff. Are you get snacks?"

She frowned a little after she spoke, the words and the voice tasting odd on her lips. They just weren't… _her_.

Mandy didn't notice. "Of course! I'm gonna get enough strawberry yogurts and sushi for everyone. Can you do me a favor?"

Zoe stopped, unsure. Mandy's 'favors' usually consisted of something that violated the rules, something that Mandy didn't want to risk getting in trouble for. Zoe couldn't exactly endanger herself as to getting caught for anything, and she'd been hoping that Mandy would wait at _least_ a month before asking something of her. Last year, she'd come pretty close to trouble with a Beatrice-related prank, and she didn't want a repeat of _that_ scare.

"I don't know…" Zoe said finally.

Mandy scoffed, rolling her eyes. She reached into the desk behind her, pulling out a small pile of invitation cards.

"Stop being such a baby, I just need you to pass out some invites. I already made them, and there's a couple blank ones in case you meet any new girls who seem cool enough. Hand them out for me, please?"

Zoe took the pile, studying the first invitation. ' _Pinky Gauthier_ ', it said in Mandy's curly handwriting. She looked back up at Mandy, preparing to tell her no. Mandy _knew_ she didn't like Pinky.

"Pleeeasee?" Mandy repeated, batting her eyelashes. "I'll be your best friend!"

Sighing, Zoe shrugged. She understood that what that really meant was that if she didn't, Mandy _wouldn't_ be her best friend. And if anything, Mandy made Zoe's life at Bullworth much cooler.

"Fine," she said at last, caving in, "I can hand them out during class, I guess."

"Sweet!" Mandy praised, pulling her into another hug.

"Now come on, I've got _so_ much to tell you about how Ted kisses."


	2. Slumber Party Blues

The girls' dorm common room looked more or less the identical, save for the sushi wheel and pyramid of strawberry and vanilla yogurts sitting on the wooden coffee table. Zoe let out an exhalation as she looked at it, just having finished stacking the yogurts.

Why did they have to get _yogurt and sushi_ for this slumber party? Really, who even _liked_ that combination? If it were up to her, they'd have a assortment of chips, pizza, and soda, not Mandy's declared 'diet food'.

Instead of voicing her belief, however, she turned to Mandy with a vast grin. "All done, Mands!" she tittered, staging her finest enthusiastic expression.

Mandy smiled at her, strutting over to the coffee table and examining the food. "It looks great, Zoe, thanks _so much_ for getting the sushi. You're, like, the _best_ BFF a girl could ever ask for."

She gave Zoe a short, one-sided hug before claiming a seat on the armchair. "The girls are just getting into their PJs, so we can just chill for a bit," she explained, inspecting her cuticles.

Zoe nodded, sitting down on the sofa. She was just a bit annoyed with Mandy, but she was trying her hardest to hide it as she shut out Mandy's droning on about some 'funny story' that had ensued with Ted the other day.

This was supposed to be _Mandy's_ slumber party—at least that was what it said on all the invitations Zoe had had to hand out—yet Zoe had been the one doing all the work. This morning, Mandy had woken her up at the ungodly hour of six thirty, instructing her to go get the sushi while she got her nails done at the beauty salon. Zoe had attempted to protest—the money she had was given to her by her father for her lunch account—but Mandy had insisted. Then, after she got back, Mandy had sent her on _another_ run to go and get the yogurt, claiming she'd 'forgotten'. At least that time she'd given Zoe a little money, drilling her to get one yogurt cup for each guest.

To top it all off, after Zoe was _finally_ finished getting all of the dull snacks, Mandy demanded that Zoe follow her around while she got her hair done and picked up her dry cleaning. And _then_ Zoe had to help her pick out the 'perfect outfit', followed by the 'perfect pajama pair'. Zoe had especially detested that part. She loathed picking out clothes.

"Ohmigod, Pinky, your jammies are _so_ adorable!"

Zoe's head snapped up, her mind relocating to the present. Mandy had interrupted her story—a novelty, really—upon the entrance of Pinky Gauthier who was wearing a simple T-shirt-and-shorts combination patterned in light pink argyle, most likely a courtesy of the pretentious little Aquaberry store in Old Bullworth Vale. Zoe didn't really see what was so 'adorable' about them, but acted giddy to see them anyway to please Mandy.

"You like?" Pinky purred, striking a pose in front of the other girls. Zoe suddenly became aware of Christy and Angie sitting on either side of her, clapping and twittering at Pinky's amateur modeling. Zoe had to restrain herself from rolling her eyes.

"They're Aquaberry," Pinky said, perching onto the sofa's armrest, studying her nails as if the entire ordeal was fairly below her, "I got them after I donated my old ones to the shelter. Hey, Zoe, they kind of looked like yours!"

Zoe felt her face burn as Christy and Angie giggled timidly, while Mandy stared at Pinky with an eyebrow raised.

That was why she disliked Pinky—she was always finding ways to ice Zoe, since she thought she was 'trashy'. Zoe didn't think that she was trashy.

Sure, so she lived in a crummy apartment over that weird Mexican restaurant in Old Bullworth Town with her crippled ex-veteran of a father, and, before she passed away, her grandmother. And sure, maybe her mother lived separate from them in her own shitty house in Blue Skies, claiming it was to be 'closer to her job' but really was so that she could live with her boyfriend in peace without Mr. Taylor finding out.

That didn't make Zoe trashy though, in her opinion.

"OMG, Pinks, is that like, a zit on your chin?" Mandy shrieked in false concern, "Maybe you should take care of that, zits are _totally_ groady."

Pinky blushed deeply, pulling out a pocket sized mirror and eyeing at her face desperately. "Wh-Where…?!"

Shrugging, Mandy reached over and plucked a California roll off of the tray. "You have to look really close."

Zoe smiled gratefully at Mandy, who gave her a sincere smile back. Sure, maybe Mandy was demanding, and bossy, and sometimes Zoe wanted to strangle her, but she was a real friend when it mattered.

"Anyway," Mandy said, swallowing her piece of sushi, "let's do something fun. Any ideas, girls?"

Christy and Zoe looked at each other, whispering ideas before one of them spoke up. Pinky meanwhile was too busy searching for signs of her nonexistent blemish, while Zoe just waited, uninterested and hoping that the 'party' would finish soon so that she could go to bed or work on her Math homework. Only Mr. Hattrick would assign ninety-eight problems as homework this early in the school year. Zoe's work would be due tomorrow for late credit.

"Well, me and Ang thought we should play truth or dare!" Christy squeaked, beaming widely at Mandy.

Mandy smiled back, reminding Zoe of the look that her kindergarten teacher used to give to the slower kids whenever they asked an obvious question.

"That's a great idea, guys. Pinky, stop looking for your pimple and pick truth or dare, _god_."

Pouting, Pinky snapped her mirror shut and reluctantly placed it back into her pocket. "Okay…" she said, her voice whiny, "I pick dare."

"Okay… I dare you to call Tad Spencer and—"

Mandy was cut off by the door to the girls' dorm opening, revealing Lola Lombardi dressed in her school uniform, which was just a touch too large for her, indisputably having come from the school's extra uniforms. Zoe felt for her—maybe her father didn't have much money, but at least he'd gone the extra mile and purchased Zoe her own uniform, even if he could only afford one. Lola didn't have that type of luck, living with her penny-pinching aunt and all.

Lola regarded at the girls, understanding immediately that she was interrupting a slumber party. Nervously, she slipped to the dining table and sat down with her History textbook, her back to the party.

Zoe turned back to the other girls and straightaway recognized the scheming expressions on Mandy and Pinky's faces.

"I dare you to pretend to invite Lola to our party, and then _laugh in her face_." Mandy said, smirking at her plan.

Pinky giggled, nodding and standing. She took a deep breath, neutralizing her facial expression so she wouldn't give the prank away to Lola, and sauntered over to her.

Zoe watched with bated breath as Pinky tapped Lola on the shoulder who nearly jumped out of her seat from surprise. She watched Lola's hesitant expression slowly turn to uncertain enthusiasm… and finally pure humiliation as Pinky guffawed cruelly in her face.

"Get out of here, greaseball _trash!_ " Pinky snickered, pointing to the stairs as she did so. Zoe watched Lola tear up, her face as red as a ripe tomato, as she gathered her homework and shot up the stairs. Pinky walked back to the group, proud as she greedily shoved a spicy tuna roll into her lip gloss lined mouth.

The other girls laughed with her as Mandy and Pinky high-fived, triumphant. Zoe knew why they hated Lola so much, and she wished she could run upstairs and apologize to her, and explain why these cackling hens were such _bitches_ to her. She wished she could tell Lola all about how Mandy was pissed because Lola had been dating Johnny Vincent since the sixth grade, after Johnny had rejected Mandy's valentine proposal at the Valentine's Day dance. She wished she could tell her that the reason Pinky tortured her was because her waist was just a little thinner than Pinky's, her hair just a little shinier, her lips just a little fuller.

But Zoe knew that if she told Lola any of these things, she'd be out too. It was kind of like Beatrice's case. The high school hierarchy had made its choice. Lola and Beatrice and that heavy girl, Eunice Pound, were out. Zoe was in.

It was just the way things were.

"Umm… Earth to Zoe?"

Zoe shook her head, once again reeled back into reality. "Yeah?" she asked perplexedly, gazing at Pinky.

"It's truth or dare, not _yeah_ , dummy," Pinky sneered, rolling her eyes.

Oh. It was her turn.

"Um, dare," Zoe replied, glancing back to the staircase. If she picked truth when Pinky was asking her, she'd just ask her some personal question to try and make Zoe feel small. She wasn't really in the mood for more of Pinky's snooty attempts at making her feel bad about herself.

Pinky smiled as if 'dare' was precisely what she had wanted Zoe to pick. "I dare you… to ask out Gary Smith." She said slowly, obviously proud of herself for thinking up such a nefarious deed.

Come again?


End file.
